1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a drive circuit for a display panel, disposed with a common electrode and an individual electrode in each of a plurality of display cells arranged in a matrix configuration, for controlling gas discharges in each display cell by applying display pulses to the common electrode to perform display operations and by individually applying control voltages to individual electrodes to control the discharge in each display cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, display panels, such as plasma displays, are known for performing display operations by controlling the gas discharge of every display cell. These types of display panels are formed by disposing display cells into many matrix configurations for individually performing gas discharges.
Usually, the discharges are performed in pulses and the number of discharges in one frame in each display cell is controlled by luminance information regarding the respective display cell. For example, through the luminance data that is input, the number of discharges is set to a maximum number when the luminance of the display cell is at maximum luminance, and the number of discharges is set to 0 at minimum luminance. Furthermore, one set of three types of RGB display cells form one pixel, and the driving of each display cell is controlled by individual RGB luminance data for one pixel.
When actually performing a display operation in the display panel, it is necessary to perform various types of correction, such as adjustment of tint or gamma correction for the luminance data. These types of correction were performed for luminance data in the same manner as the correction of ordinary image data.
The data processing for these types of correction usually use the same calculations. However, if a setting is to be changed, the calculation must also be changed. This change is difficult to accomplish if an attempt is made to implement the circuit in hardware. On the other hand, if the circuit is implemented in software, a lot of time is required and the load on the processor increases.